Air handling unit



R. L. BRUGLER AIR HANDLING UNIT Filed Feb. 7, 1952 I 2 Slitg-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

1954 R. L. BRUGLER 2,697,921

AIR HANDLING UNIT Filed Feb. 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I N V EN TOR. Zak/1 472. 4 rzylzf A r rain 76! United States Patent AI HA DLING UNIT Richard L Bro D yt n, Ohio, assigno o C rysler orporation, H gh and a k, Mich a, co p ration of D l ware Application February 7 1952, Serial No. 270,483

3 Claims, (Q1. 62-9140) This invention relates to an air handling unit and more particularly to an improved air control mechanism therein and improvements accommodating the installation of the unit with plumbing selectively connected to the unit at either of two spaced locations.

It is one of the principal objects of this invention to provide an improved damper mechanism for an air handling unit having opposed room air and fresh air inlet openings. The damper mechanism is so arranged that manual operation of the damper will predetermine the relative amounts of room air and fresh air admitted to the unit for conditioning and the damper is provided with means to prevent the drift of air from one of these openings to the other, regardless of the position of the damper.

It is a further object; of this invention to provide an im= proved apparatus for accommodating the flow of heat exchangemedium through the unit so that the unit may be installed with plumbing connections for the heat exchange medium selectively made at either of two locations on the unit.

It is an additional obje t of he in en n to pr vid a n l condensate ray s pp rt ng mec anism adapted to accomm a the dra ning condensate Wa er through piping which may be selectively connected to the unit at either of two locations,

It i al n obj c of he inven on to P ov d a novel mounting for a blower mechanism within the unit.

In the drawings:

g 1 s a fr nt elevati n. par ly n ection of an air h dl ng un t incorporat ng my inven i n;

F 2 s a ertical section ken o the l 2..2 of of F g- 1;

Fi is a partial ver cal secti n c rre p n g to e l wer porti n Fig.- 2 nd show g he d mp r n an nt rmediate p i nd ig- 4 i a partial v rtical s tion cor e p ndi g o g- 3 and showing he damper n anothe p s tion- My invention relates to improvements in units con.- taini g a h a xcha ge c and lo m ans t induc a c rcul t on f ir ver t cod Such u i s r c m monly re e red o as a r handling units and are particularly ad p ed f r installation n th o ms of a buil ng avin a central ating an or co ling system c pable of deli ering h ted r ool d W ter to t e he x han coil of ach r andl ng n so t at oom air and/or fresh outside air may be blown over the coil to condition the T0 3 ,In Fi 1 a f nt levation, par y in tio of n air handling unit incorporating my invention is illustrated. The components of the unit are supported by a frame structure'lO and the entire unit is housed within a casing 12. The casing is elongated, of generally rectangular cross section, and includes an opening 14 which is formed in the lower portion of the front wall 16 thereof. An opening 18 is formed in a rear wall 20 of the casing and a plurality of discharge openings 22 are formed in the PW Po tion .Of the casing. The opening 14 is adapted to a mit room air to the air handling unit hil the opening 18 may be connected by suitable ducting (not shown) to a source of fresh outside air, Room air admitted through opening 14 and fresh air admitted through opening 118 are selectively admitted in controlled amounts for passsage upwardly through the casing 12 and discharge opt pf openings 22 to the room. i

A coil 24 is positioned within the casing 12 in the upper portion thereof. This coil may be inclined as illus- "ice t ate in. i 2 and pr fera y s supported y th f me 10, e s il ha e n illus ra d as a conven onal in and u e yp a th ugh th r onvention l oils could e e The p nc pal eq em nt is that the coil provide a plurality of passageways for a heat exchange medium such as water.

Immediately below the coil a tray 26 is supported by frame 10. The tray 26 is adapted to collect condensate which drips from the coil 2.4 and attention is invited to the fact that in Fig. l the tray 26 is illustrated as being tilted with the right end thereof being disposed at a lower elevation than the left end thereof. A drain tube 28 is connected to tray 26 and adapted to conduct condensate to a tube 30 which carries the condensate to a drain pan 32. The drain pan 32 is preferably provided with a fitting 34 by means of which conventional plumbing may be connected for the discharge of condensate to the city sewer system.

A blower motor 36 is carried by and depends from the tray 26. The blower motor 36 drives conventional shafts 38 and 40 which respectively carry blower rotors 42 and 44. The rotor 42 is housed within a conventional blower scroll 46 and the blower rotor 44 is housed within a conventional blower scroll 48, each of which depend from the tray 26 and have outlets 50 projecting through the tray. Referring to Fig. 2 it will be evident that with the evaporator 24 inclined as illustrated therein there is room for the projecting outlets 50 of the blower scrolls to be located toward the rear of the casing relative to the lowermost portion of the coil 24 so that water dripping from the lowermost edge of coil 24 will not be admitted to the outlet of the blower scrolls.

The ray 26 is illustr d as pro ded ith an le upports 52 and 54 which are bolted to the frame 10 by bolts 56, Each end wall of the frame 10 is provided with sets of pe r he e eptio o bo s 5 whic sets ar located at' different elevations, The sets of openings are located at corresponding elevations in their respective end Walls he ay 26 y thus be support d t e h end at either of two elevations and in Fig. 2 it will be noted that the bolts 56, as installed, conceal the lower set of openings while the upper set of openings 58 are visible, The left end of tray 26 has the bolts 56 extending through e pp se o openings 58 nd a lower se of ope ings, which is not illustrated, is provided in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2. It will thus be seen that the tilt of tray 26 that is evident in Fig, l is caused by the fact that the bolts 56 on the left end of the tray are in the upper set of openings 58 while the bolts 56 on the right end of the tray are in the lower set of openings 58. The tilt of the tray could be reversed by moving the bolts into the upper openings 58 on the right end of the tray and moving the bolts 5.6 on the left end of the tray into the lower openings 58. A duplicate drain pipe 28' is PIG.- vided adjacent the left end of the tray and the drain pan 32 may be moved to the left side of the frame 10 in Fig, l and bolted to the frame in a manner similar to that illustrated in Fig. l. Preformed bolt holes which are n t shown are provided in frame 10 for this purpose. The tube 30 of course would then connect drain tube 2.8 and drain pan 32.

The reversibility of the tilt of tray 26 which has been discussed above is desirable for it facilitates the installation of air handling units in buildings and rooms thereof so that the condensate drain plumbing may be optionally connected to either the right or left side of the air handling unit. The casing 12 provides compartments 60 and 62 which are adapted to selectively accommodate this pln n It is also desirable to provide an air handling unit in which the plumbing for the heat exchange medium which is to be delivered to coil 24 may be selectively housed within compartment 60 or compartment 62. It should be understood that when an air handling unit is installed in a building, plumbing is usually already in the building and for various reasons it may be more convenient in one installation to have the plumbing connections in the left side and in other installations it may be desirable to have the plumbing connections in the right side of the unit. It is also desirable in a manufacturing establishment to manufacture one unit suitable for either installation.

Header tubes 63 and 64 are provided for association with the coil 24. These tubes are preferably supported by the end plates 66 of the coil 24. The header tube 63 will be referred to as the inlet tube and the header tube 64 Will be referred to as the outlet header tube although it is to be understood that they could, if desired, be connected so that the tube 64 served as the inlet while the tube 63 served as the outlet. The passageways for heat exchange medium which are provided by coil 24 are manifolded to header tube 63 at 68 and to header tube 64 at 70. The header tubes 63 and 64 are each threaded at each end thereof and it will be seen that plumbing can be connected to the right or left end of tube 63 for the admission of a heat exchange medium such as water and that plumbing can be connected to either the right or left end of tube 64 to accommodate the discharge of a heat exchange medium such as Water. Conventional plugs 65 may be inserted in the unused ends of tubes 63 and 64.

The novel mounting of the tray 26 accommodates selective tilting of the tray and this feature cooperates with the construction which accommodates connection of the plumbing at either the right or left end in Fig. 1 to facilitate installation of the unit with plumbing connections at either the right or left end thereof.

A frame 72 is pivotally mounted at 74 in frame 10. The frame 72 is adapted to receive a filter 76 which may be inserted and removed from the frame 72 through the opening 14. This removal and insertion can be accommodated by tilting of the frame 72 about its pivotal mounting 74.

The filter 76 is provided in a generally horizontal plane when installed and it cooperates with the lower portions of the walls and the base of the casing 12 to define a compartment 80. The compartment 80 is in fluid flow communication with the openings 14 and 18 which were previously referred to as openings for the admission of recirculated room air and fresh air respectively. The novel damper 82 is carried by a shaft 84 which is pivotally mounted in the casing and provided with a portion which extends through the side wall of the casing 12 and has an operating handle 86 provided thereon for manipulation of the damper. The damper 82 includes a first portion or sheet member 87 and a second portion or sheet member 88 which are inclined relative to each other and which generally extend from the shaft 84 toward the opening 14 and the opening 18 respectively. A curved backing plate 90 is secured to the damper portions 87 and 88 and has the center of its radius of curvature coincident with shaft 84. A wiper element 92 of yieldable material such as rubber or felt is supported by a bracket 94 on the base 96 of casing 12 and is adapted to engage the backing plate 91 regardless of the position of the damper.

Fig. 2 illustrates the position of the damper when it is desired that only room air be admitted to the air handling unit. It will be noted that the opening 14 admits room air to compartment 80 and that this air is drawn through the forward portion of the filter 76 by the blower mechanism. Fig. 4 illustrates the damper positioned so that room air from opening 14 is blocked from passing through the filter 76 by the damper portion 86. Under these conditions fresh air admitted through opening 18 is drawn through the rear portion or filter 76 by the blower mechanism.

Fig. 3 illustrates the damper in an intermediate position which accommodates a mixture of room air and fresh air.

The backing plate 90 and the wiper element 92 cooperate as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 to prevent the drift of air from opening 18 beneath the damper and into the room through opening 14 or vice versa. Air is prevented from drifting over the top of the damper by the fact that the shaft 84 is located in close proximity to the filter '76 and the damper portions 87 and 88 block any flow of air above the backing plate 90. It would be undesirable to have a damper construction that would permit a strong prevailing wind to drive cool outside air through compartment 80 and into the room or to permit heated room air to escape through compartment 80 to the outside. The novel damper construction 4 prevents drafts of this type regardless of the position of the damper.

I claim:

1. In an air handling unit having a casing, a heat exchange coil mounted in said casing and including means defining fiuid passageways for a heat exchange medium, first and second header tubes mounted in said casing, said header tubes having a first pair of adjacent ends and a second pair of adjacent ends, the adjacent ends of each pair being selectively adapted to respectively admit heat exchange medium to and discharge heat exchange medium from said header tubes, means to selectively close the first and second pairs of ends, a tray for collecting condensate from said coil and means for mounting said tray in said casing below said coil, said last mentioned means being adjustable to accommodate selective tilting of said tray in a first and a second direction, said tray being provided with spaced first and second drain openings, one of said openings being positioned so that it is operable to drain water from the tray when the tray is tilted in the first direction and the other of said openings being positioned so that it is operable to drain water from the tray when the tray is tilted in the second direction.

2. In an air handling unit having a casing, a heat exchange coil mounted in said casing and including means defining fluid passageways for a heat exchange medium, first and second header tubes mounted in said casing, said header tubes having a first pair of adjacent ends and a second pair of adjacent ends, the adjacent ends of each pair being selectively adapted to respectively admit heat exchange medium to and discharge heat exchange medium from said header tubes, means to selectively close the first and second pairs of ends, a tray for collecting condensate from said coil and means for mounting said tray in said casing below said coil, said last mentioned means including mechanical fastening elements and a plurality of selectively cooperable fastening means to accommodate tilting of said tray in a first and a second direction, said tray being provided with spaced first and second drain openings, one of said openings being positioned so that it is operable to drain water from the tray when the tray is tilted in the first direction and the other of said openings being positioned so that it is operable to drain water from the tray when the tray is tilted in the second direction.

3. In an air handling unit having a casing, a heat exchange coil mounted in said casing and including means defining fluid passageways for a heat exchange medium, first and second header tubes mounted in said casing, said header tubes having a first pair of adjacent ends and a second pair of adjacent ends, the adjacent ends of each pair being selectively adapted to respectively admit heat exchange medium to and discharge heat exchange medium from said header tubes, means to selectively close the first and second pairs of ends, a tray for collecting condensate from said coil, means for mounting said tray in said casing below said coil, said last mentioned means being adjustable to accommodate selective tilting of said tray in a first and a second direction, said tray being provided with spaced first and second drain openings, one of said openings being positioned so that it is operable to drain water from the tray when the tray is tilted in the first direction and the other of said openings being positioned so that it is operable to drain water from the tray when the tray is tilted in the second direction, and air impelling means including a blower motor and blower scroll depending from and carried by said tray for inducing a circulation of air to be treated over said coil.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,812,509 Benson June 30, 1931 1,903,143 Shurtleff Mar. 28, 1933 2,023,749 Smith Dec. 10, 1935 2,043,561 Sims June 9, 1936 2,266,259 Perham Dec. 16, 1941 2,284,161 McElgin May 26, 1942 2,331,691 Hubbard Oct. 12, 1943 2,401,918 Elder et a1. June 11, 1946 

